A landmark victory on the rights of pregnant people when securing living wills has been settled in Idaho. A lawsuit over a 2005 law prohibiting pregnant people from making life-sustaining decisions in advanced directives has been dismissed. Jess Pezley, staff attorney for the organization Compassion and Choices, said under Idaho s interpretation of the 2005 law, pregnant people would be kept on life support even if they disagreed with the decision. .
Two years into the pandemic, the number of volunteer blood donors in Pennsylvania has dropped dramatically. Blood center leaders say it s critical to get the numbers up in order to save lives. With schools and workplaces disrupted by COVID-19, many blood drives have been canceled and have not been rescheduled. .
Philanthropic groups have collaborated to erase more than $35 million in medical debt for Arkansas residents. Over the last few months, the groups raised money to work with the charity RIP Medical Debt to raise $225,000. RIP Medical Debt purchases debt in large bundled portfolios for a fraction of its face value. .
By Lyle Muller for IowaWatch.Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Iowa News Service reporting for the IowaWatch-Public News Service Collaboration Rachel Fratzke led her Mercy Iowa City nursing staff in a meditation session to start the work day Monday morning. A nurse manager, she had the nurses do deep breathing exercises and think about when they first wanted to be a nurse, or how they felt about passing their certifying board exams. The session was necessary, Fratzke said, to deal with the facts of COVID-19 and the rippling effects the coronavirus is sending through the nurses work day but also home life. .